Battle of Ruxukou

The Battle of Ruxukou occurred from 222 to 223 AD during the Three Kingdoms era. The Wu general Zhu Huan and his 5,000 troops defeated the invading 50,000-strong Wei army of Cao Ren as it took part in a three-pronged invasion of Wu.

Campaign
After the Battle of Baidi Castle in 222 AD, Wu and Shu made peace and once again alied. The shocked Wei emperor Cao Pi sought to bring the whole country under his rule, and he ignored Jia Xu and Liu Ye's advice and launched a three-pronged invasion of Wu, with Cao Xiu facing Lu Fan at Dongkou, Cao Zhen against Zhuge Jin at Nanjun, and Cao Ren against Zhu Huan at Ruxu. Zhu Huan predicted that Wei's army was tired from its long march, so he readied his 5,000 troops to ambush the 50,000-strong Wei vanguard under Chang Diao and Wang Shuang.

Chang Diao and the vanguard marched on Ruxu, facing no opposition along the way. As the Wei vanguard hastened towards the city, Zhu Huan and his army ambushed the Wei force, and the Wu forces thoroughly routed the Wei invaders, with Zhu Huan personally slaying Chang Diao. Cao Ren's force was then attacked by troops from Xianxi and thoroughly routed. At the same time, Zhuge Jin and Lu Xun attacked Cao Zhen and Xiahou Shang at Xiakou and Lu Fan attacked Cao Xiu at Dongkou, and all of the Wei invasion forces were defeated. All three of Wei's armies failed in their invasion and were lost, and stalemate set in.